Article Courtesy of Sun Sentinel

By Kevin Smith

Published January 20, 2006

Sunrise · Their lives still in turmoil from Hurricane Wilma, hundreds of residents of Sunrise Lakes Phase III came looking for answers Thursday morning.

Four hours later, many were still looking.
Sunrise · Their lives still in turmoil from Hurricane Wilma, hundreds of residents of Sunrise Lakes Phase III came looking for answers Thursday morning.

A town hall meeting with property managers and representatives of Woods Restoration Services, the firm supervising repairs in the condo community, satisfied some residents, but most said they doubted there would be any improvement. Many were visibly angry as they left. Others have been angry since last Friday, when rains soaked through partially repaired roofs and forced the evacuation of all 12 top-floor units in each of five buildings.

The work, according to resident Anita Inglese, had begun just that morning, and the openings created on the roof left a new batch of residents displaced, a full 12 weeks after Wilma hit.

"I came in Saturday morning and my kitchen ceiling was torn out," said Paula Friedlander, a third-floor resident of Building 140. "I don't know what I'm going to say to the insurance guy. Was it the hurricane? Was it negligence?"

Resident Tony Giglio said, "I feel it's definitely a question of negligence ... They had no right touching our roof; there was nothing wrong with it."

Residents said a Plantation attorney fielded most of their questions in the clubhouse's Galaxy Theater, though it was not clear whom he represented. Members of the press were excluded from the meeting, which attracted more than 500 residents, and neither the attorney nor property manager Jack Radosta returned phone calls seeking comment.

Residents expressed concern about the size of the coming assessment to finance the repairs, whether the schedule for repairs was unreasonably ambitious, whether further damage will be a matter for Woods' insurance carrier, and security in their units. Police have reported an increase in burglaries in Sunrise Lakes since last year, but city officials could not be reached for comment on the status of roofing inspections in the community.

Philip Woods, CEO of Woods Restoration, said from Connecticut he could not address the specific questions raised by residents and could not say how many of the workers at Sunrise Lakes were experienced roofers. Just putting on a temporary roof was a four- to eight-day process, he said, and weather forecasts didn't stretch that long, making rain an inevitable threat.

"It would be beautiful to put 100 guys up there and have it all done in one day, but it just doesn't work like that," he said.

Marilyn Charney, exiled from building 141 since Wilma, came to the meeting after weeks of fruitless calls trying to find out where her building was on the construction schedule.

"I wasn't happy with the answer, but it was an answer," she said, satisfied. Officials told her much of the work had been done, but inspections found problems and further repairs were being scheduled. "I'd rather know the truth. Tell me the truth. I don't want to live in false hope."

While many residents had questions for and comments about Woods Restoration and its work crews, some outside the clubhouse questioned whether the property management allowed the roofs to exceed their useful life spans. Some residents of the community, which has 93 buildings and more than 3,200 units, said they recalled their roofs being patched on several occasions, but never completely replaced.

"It was not an act of God," Beatrice Hampton said of the recent damage. "It was an act of man, who didn't repair the roofs when he should have."